They Are Growing Up

So for the past 6 years Matthew and Adam have shared the same room at their insistence. That is until this past weekend. They finally decided it might be nice to have a place of their own. Mike gave up his office and moved it into the basement and Adam took the old office. Matthew kept his bedroom and was able to spread out. They love it!


Matthew at his keyboard in his room.


Adam playing this snare in his room.

They have moved all their Lego's to their bedrooms (which I like!). Adam's closet is huge so they made it the Lego room. Now they can keep their Lego's out and keep the door closed to keep the Andrew Monster, who eats Lego's for lunch, away :)

Fall Break Fun

Fall break has come and gone. So fast! We kept very busy though. Thursday we took a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was Andrew's first time at the zoo and I think he had a good time. He really like the Ocean with all the fish and sharks. He actually reached into the shark pool to pet a shark! Matthew and Adam had fun showing him around the place.

Bright and early Friday morning we dropped Andrew off with my mom so that Mike and I could take Matthew and Adam on the Cub Scouts camping trip. The trip was a three-night camp out but being new the camping world we opted for one night and two long days. We survived, had a good time, and will do it again!

I will post pictures and maybe some video soon!

Fall Fun

I am just going to pick-up here like I have been posting for the past 5 months. What can I say, it was summer and we have been busy!

We has a great summer. The boys enjoyed a few camps. Matthew spent a week at art camp learning about various forms of art. He enjoyed his time and we ended up with a lot of art pieces from his experiences. Both Matthew and Adam spent a week at YMCA camp where the highlight of the camp is a wooded area and creek they play in. I am not sure why that is so exciting since we have that in our backyard as well.

We spent a week in July in Grand Haven, Michigan in a little house we rented along the beach. Our other Bratt relatives spent the week with us as well. Matthew, Adam, and Erol had a great time playing with each other. Although we spent most of our time on the beach we were able to pick 20 pounds of blueberries! They were delicious! The boys, both big and little, spent a few evenings racing go carts which was a big hit. I enjoyed reading two great books and hanging out with Sanida and Andrew. It was nice and relaxing.

Southern Indiana was a hot spot for us this summer as well. We made 3 trips down this summer which is more than we have made in the past 2 years! Matthew and Adam enjoyed spending time with Uncle Paul and cousin Ross on the farm. They had a few adventures that they are still talking about. Of course they loved riding the 4-wheeler (mom enjoyed that too!) and sleeping in a tent. The most memorable was getting lost in the woods. We can thank Grandpa Tempel for that! I think they may have learned a few things after that. It was good to spend time with family. Southern Indiana is so beautiful in the summer!

Our annual trip to Holiday World was the other big destination down south. It was a very hot and crowded day but we had a great time and was able to visit with Aunt Lucy for a while. The best part was the huge storm at the end of the day. Buckets of rain soaked us and then the power went out. We were given comp tickets which only meant that we would have to visit again!!! BONUS! A second trip was made at the end of August. It was much cooler and less crowds. We rode every ride in the water park at least once. It was awesome!

We had a good year in 4-H. Matthew was able to pull together his entomology collection and ended up with a blue and an honor!! I was so proud! Blues were achieved in foods and Lego's as well. Adam did great on his mini 4-H projects but he insists that it doesn't count because everyone gets the same ribbon. The boys now think we need to live on a farm so that they can show pigs and goats next year.

School started way too early on August 11th. Matthew is in 4th grade and Adam is in 2nd. They are doing great.

Both boys played Fall Baseball which started in August and just finished yesterday (10-10-10). They both showed much improvement since the beginning of the season. Matthew is turning into a good catcher! They didn't win in the tournament but they had a good time and that is what counts.

I haven't really mentioned Andrew....He has been there providing joy through all our adventures. He has gone from a cute little baby to a cute little toddler. We nicknamed him Monkey when he was born because of his hairy body and his long, thin arms and legs. He is now living up to the name in actions. He climbs EVERYTHING. If you turn around he will be up on the table or counter in seconds. He is constantly running and jumping everywhere! The kid doesn't stop. He is so happy, good, and sweet. He LOVES baseball and is getting good at hitting pitched balls if you can believe that. I will have to post video of it sometime.

Mike is doing good. He continues to write music and teach piano and guitar lessons.

I am well. Trying to keep up with work and extra curricular activities. Work is very busy which makes the days go by too quick. I am back at running after having Andrew. I finished 3 half-marathons this year. I am pretty happy with the results and looking forward to next spring.

So, that wraps up some of the highlights of the past 5 months. I am going to try and make a better effort at keeping this thing up to date. It is hard managing all of these media outlets.

I Am Way Behind

Sad but true I have not been very good at keeping my blog up to date. I have a goal to be a little better at it now. If work wasn't so busy I might have time to get it done!!!

All is well with the Bratt's. Matthew and Adam are in the middle of their baseball season. We have had crazy weeks of up to 6 games in one week! This is the last week of school and they are very excited to be on break. Not as excited as I am not to have homework!!!!

The summer is shaping up to be busy and fun as well. Matthew is in his first year of 4-H. Of course we have one of those projects that I think will cause us some stress. He loves bugs so he is taking entomology. We really need to get started on the bug collection! Adam is in mini 4-H. Matthew will be going to an art camp for a week and June and they wrap the month up with a fun week of camp at the YMCA.

Andrew is doing great and getting so big. He is the cutest kid around! He is definitely walk (almost running) all over the place. The kid loves to eat too! I will post pictures soon.

Has Anyone Seen My Teeth

Adam lost one of his front teeth a few weeks ago. He thought it was cool to gross us out with the hanging tooth. Being the big brother (and acting a lot like me) Matthew convinced Adam that he could pull the tooth out. I heard them in the bathroom; Matthew was telling him to be calm and it would be out soon. Not long after that Adam screamed and came out of the bathroom with blood running out of his mouth. No one got to touch the tooth after that. It fell out on it's own the next morning.

GROSS!

A week later the second tooth fell out! You should see him trying to eat apples:)

Doesn't he look so cute!

The Christams Holiday in a Nutshell

We had a fun-filled two weeks of Christmas this year. It began December 18th, as soon as the boys were off the bus we were in the van headed to St. Louis for Christmas with Mike's Dad and Carol. It was a nice visit and there was enough snow falling to make it very festive but not dangerous for driving.

I took most of the of the time off the week before Christmas and then the whole week after. To start off the fun I took the boys to a Purdue basketball game with my friend Carrie and 3 of her 4 boys. They won and it was fun.

Adam made this awesome sign!

The annual Bratt boys cookie bake was on the 23rd. We baked all day long and made a lot of yummy cookies and candies for the neighbors. I was adventurous this year and made candy cane coffee cakes for the first time. They turned out good. I might have to try it again next year.

Christmas Eve we traveled to Brazil to spend the day with my family. There was plenty of good food and fun. The coolest gift was a marshmallow gun. I am sure Grandma will be finding little marshmallows for a long time. We have band the gun from the house; little marshmallows would not be good for Andrew. It will be an outside toy.

Matthew loved his new boots for the creek.

Matthew and Adam were up at 4:45 a.m. Christmas morning excited to open presents. We managed to get them to wait until 6 to open presents. It is customary for Santa to bring underwear. This year he brought boxers (at the request of Matthew who said it isn't cool to be wearing tighty-whities anymore) and they were very excited. Matthew put his on right away.

Christmas day we drove to Lansing, IL to have Christmas dinner with Mike's mom and her family. It was a smaller group this year but very enjoyable. The boys received way to many gifts but they loved them all.

We decided to stick around for a few days after Christmas. On Saturday we traveled downtown to have lunch at Italian Village which was tradition for Mike when he was young. This is the third year we have done this and I hope to continue the tradition. We also looked at the Marshall Fields windows. The theme this year was the journey of a letter to Santa from the child all the way to Santa. It was really cute. We can't go downtown anymore without the boys wanting to go to the Lego store so we hopped on the train to go to the store and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking along Michigan Avenue. It snowed the entire day and it was really beautiful. Chicago ended up with 8 inches of snow by the end of the day.

We Skipped Over November and Right into December

I don't even know where the time has gone. Wasn't it just Halloween? At least my blog says so. November was a flurry of activity. My baby, my first born, turned 9 in November. To celebrate Matthew had a sleep-over with a few of his friends. I was nervous about this but it turned out great. I did have to end the fun when I was woke-up at two o'clock by giggles and the patter of feet. They were up again at 7 a.m. and ready for more fun!

Thanksgiving this year was spent at home. YEAH! Karen and Jim hosted at their house which works out great for us since they are about 10 minutes away. I took the opportunity to run in the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving morning. John joined me and we had a good time. I hope to do it again next year!

4 out of grandma's 5 boys. Carol and the kids didn't get to come for Thanksgiving so Will is missing from the picture.

The feast!

Of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Black Friday. Aunt Mary and I were the only ones brave enough to go shopping. We had a great time!

December seems to be passing us by as quickly as November. We are decorated and ready for Christmas. Matthew and Adam were a great help with the decorating this year. This is the last week of school until 2010. They are both looking forward to the break as am I!

The tree in their room.

Our Family Tree....protected from Andrew.

Gingerbread House fun.

Waiting to see Santa.

Check back soon to see the visit with Santa and the rest of December's fun.